IFC

[Extra time]

Anyone with any opinion on who might take the honours?

[bracknaghboy]

Walsh Island without a doubt this year and they deserve it. Something I've noticed in the last 5 years is that the standard of intermediate football in Offaly has dipped considerably and I think the 2 recent IFC quarter finals illustrate that.

[Lone Shark]

They'll deserve it when they win it and not before. I remember Richie Connor giving it socks last year in the Tribune about how his club "deserved" to be senior and others deserved to be relegated, but there's simply no basis for this whatsoever. They certainly have the personnel that are good enough to win, but they'll earn it this weekend against Walsh Island and they certainly won't get it easy against Doon. Walsh Island favourites, but they've yet to prove that they're mentally strong enough to get to senior.

[talent spotter]

Very true, seldom do teams "deserve" something, unless they go out and win the particular games.
Walsh Island have some excellent players but I suggest they lack a few to be considered a top quality
team. This does not mean they will not win the intermediate championship though.
Regarding the quality of the intermediate championship falling over the last few years, you would have to
look at the age profile of the teams involved. Teams like Doon, Bracknagh, Ballyfore and St. Rynaghs have
all won the competition in the past ten or so years, with a large number of the players involved in those victories
still playing with them. While they are still the same footballers, age has a way of slowing even the greatest!!!

[Lone Shark]

It's easy to say that the standard of intermediate football has dropped, but realistically I don't know if that's the case. You have to go back a long time to find the last time the winners of the IFC in Offaly didn't at least perform competitively in Leinster, while several clubs were close enough to winning the thing. Certainly none of the recent winners have been disgraced and off the top of my head I can't remember the last time the Offaly representatives didn't win at least one game in the provincial competition.

As for the ageing thing, well Bracknagh and Ballyfore would certainly be old enough panels while Rynaghs have had a lot of the same faces, albeit not that many who would be well past their best, but it's a quite young Doon team this year. Leaving aside the two Ryans, and neither of them would be passengers to say the least, I don't think there's anyone under thirty and there would be a good sprinkling of younger players in there too.

[Extra time]

With regards 2 doon havin a old team lona shark is rite,apart from the 2 ryans and the goalie the next age is 25 and younger down to a number of players that are 17!if anything doon are a up and coming team!!

[The Magpie]

With regards 2 doon havin a old team lona shark is rite,apart from the 2 ryans and the goalie the next age is 25 and younger down to a number of players that are 17!if anything doon are a up and coming team!!

If Ciaran Heavin is under 30 I'm going to start using my student card again to get into O'Connor Park

[Extra time]

Ciaran Heavin did not start any championship game this year,came on for the last 10mins in the 1/4 final to replace a 18 year old!!

[Georgio1]

Fair play to Walsh Island and they will be a welcome addition to Senior. As for Doon, they offered no threat at all, and to me if you took out the 2 Ryans, they would struggle to make it out of the group. Most of the scores came off James Coughlan, and pretty much all the quality ball to him was kicked in by Donie Ryan. I would say The Bridge will start as favourites next year, but will be a more open championship.
This year has been a poor Inter championship, and one that has been all too predictable.

[Bord na Mona man]

Well done to Walsh Island.
I've always wondered how they would get on in senior championship.
I get the feeling they are the type of club who will give a the group matches a good lash and go all out to win games.
They might lack the survival skills of the more seasoned escape artists when it comes to staving off relegation though.

[Lone Shark]

Certainly this was a deserved win for Walsh Island and they proved that they deserve a spell in the senior ranks by comfortably despatching all comers this year. Even allowing for Croghan being tougher opponents last season, I think there was a marked improvement in the Island from 2008 to 2009.

The real pity for me as far as this game is concerned is that Doon really didn't play their game at all. Walsh Island won this without ever really having to dig deep, and while they could easily have found another gear if they needed to, it's a really pity that it never came to that. James Coughlan showed well for the ball and he won a lot of possession, but I thought he went for a few shots that weren't on and could really have done a lot more to bring other players around him into the game. Trevor Phelan was being well marked but we still could have seen a lot more of him, while Niall Kelly was playing very deep and the two young lads, Willie Healy and Callum Boland, probably only had three or four passes sent their way all day. Because Walsh Island knew that every ball was going into Jimmy, they dropped their half backs deeper and crowded Doon out by times. If Doon varied their play a little more they could have caused a few more problems. Niall Kelly is well capable of running at a defence and picking out a good pass at pace, but we saw little or nothing of this, while I got the impression that the Doon half backs and midfield, whether by instinct or instruction, were looking for Jimmy with every ball.

Walsh Island did a much better job of working the ball into good positions before passing and before shooting. Doon were hitting the full forward line from their own 65, WI were drawing men out and playing much higher percentage ball in, while they also took much better percentage shots at goal, not counting the Hollywood efforts at the end.

In a lot of the areas where Doon were expected to struggle, they did really well. Paul Heavin kept Gary Comerford quiet, while Declan Rohan kept Willie Mulhall under wraps too, though Mulhall did make the few times he won possession pay in fairness to him. Rory and Ross Connor weren't in the game at all, while I thought Dessie Egan was the best midfielder and probably the best individual on display. The difference was that Walsh Island got a good contribution from a lot of their less-heralded forwards, while at the other end the Doon equivalents didn't get the same opportunity.

It'll be a very open IFC next year surely, the first time in years that there will be no clear favourite. Shannonbridge could be decent but a lot depends on whether some of their older players decide to keep playing second tier football, Rynaghs have talent but don't always deliver, Birr would be very competitive if they got anything close to their best fifteen on the field while Raheen are a solid unit who could pull off an upset or two if they got a bit more pace and incisiveness into their forward line. Even Rhode (if they regrade well and don't end up stripping their inter team too heavily) and Clonbullogue would have chances, though I'd say it's between Doon and the four clubs mentioned at the start of this paragraph myself.

[old yellar]

With regards to shannonbridge, i ve heard that big john ryan probably wont be playing anything next year.. hopefully he will reconsider..

[Hocker]

Yeah John Ryan is finished playing, and in fairness to him he's been around for a long time and even though he's only gone 33 he's got a lot of mileage up. He doesn't owe football or hurling anything any more after a glittering career which has seen him with pocket full of medals including an All-Ireland, a National League and Senior championship.. He will be a huge loss.

Shannonbridge's progression next year will depend firstly on the return of star player Jason Kelly from the US.. it'll depend on interest & hunger of the younger players and also on who they get as manager for 2010.
It''ll actually be an interesting championship but I'd make Doon, Rynaghs & possibly Birr as the 3 to look out for next year and of course the 'Bridge if they can get the main man back.

I was in Tullamore on Saturday and felt that Doon were never at the races... James Coughlan tried to do it all on his own, and with Trevor Phelan being well marshalled as pointed out by LS, he hadn't got much of a foil to aid him in attack.

Walsh Island will definitely give them socks of it in Senior next year and this man wont be surprised to see them in a 1/4 or semi come next September.

[The Magpie]

Yeah John Ryan is finished playing, and in fairness to him he's been around for a long time and even though he's only gone 33 he's got a lot of mileage up. He doesn't owe football or hurling anything any more after a glittering career which has seen him with pocket full of medals including an All-Ireland, a National League and Senior championship..

Couldn't agree more. A horse of a man, who was equally capable at both codes. Add to his list of achievements an U-21 Leinster Football Winners Medal.

Of all his achievements though, I'm sure the 1996 Winners medal with the Bridge is right up at the top.

[Bord na Mona man]

Off topic here, but is a player's medal count a meaningful measure of achievement in a team sport?

John Ryan has given good service in both codes, but only ever played 2 senior championship games for Offaly footballers and along the way won a National Football League medal.

On the other hand, Karol Slattery has played 29 championship games for Offaly and at his peak was one of the best wing backs in Ireland (IMO of course). Due to geography and timing of birth, he hasn't picked up any significant Leinster, League, All Ireland or club honours.

Just a thought.